Moody’s Investors Service's credit ratings seek to incorporate an objective, independent and forward-looking view of all issues that can materially impact the credit quality of a given sector or debt issuer. Accordingly, ESG issues are an important component of MIS’s credit analysis and we closely monitor ESG risks that are material and relevant to issuers’ credit quality.

Philipp Lotter

Managing Director, MIS Global Head of Ratings & Research

Climate change has disparate effects on the world’s economies. It creates winners and losers and varying incentives to act, creating ripple effects of related geopolitical and social risk, and affecting migration patterns and population health.

We are building new alliances with experts in the ESG, climate and sustainable finance fields, which broaden Moody’s growing platform of risk assessment capabilities. ‍This increased cooperation and access to ESG data and research supports our commitment to sustainable finance and enhances our thought leadership on ESG considerations. Read some of our key research pieces below.

The Coronavirus Experience will Likely Change Habits and Reshape Financial Institutions’ Business Models

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For financial services, much of the impact will be short-term, but we expect there will be far-reaching longer-term effects that will fundamentally reshape many aspects of the macroeconomy, business life and consumer behavior.

The effects of storms and other natural disasters can range from mild, with losses driven primarily by economic disruption, to severe, with widespread destruction causing short-term challenges and potentially altering an economy’s long-term trajectory.

Climate change is likely to both disrupt the financial services industry and yield opportunities for the sector. To develop effective climate risk stress testing practices, banks must first understand the effect of climate events on financial interests.

Four Twenty Seven and real estate technology company GeoPhy announced the release of a data product that provides granular projections of the impacts of climate change on real estate investment trusts (REITs).

The global tide of interest in the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has hit the shores of Australian financial markets, and corporations and investors now face the challenge of accurately assessing, reporting and addressing their exposure to physical climate risks.

As data shows that climate change will pose challenges to several economically important U.S. municipalities, credit rating agencies are increasingly incorporating physical climate risk into their municipal rating criteria.

Findings show that investors should not only care for Amazon fires but also for deforestation in other vulnerable regions such as Indonesia and Malaysia, where the big majority of controversies are reported.